Source packet bridge

ABSTRACT

A communication function between ports on a node that does not require a common time base to be distributed across the network is disclosed. A data stream received over a first port is placed on an interface between nodes using the time base of the first port; a second port samples the data stream on the interface and timestamps it using the time base of the second port. The data stream is timestamped by the second port and packetized before transmitted to the second node to another bridge or device. Alternatively, the first port extracts a time stamp from the data stream and calculates an offset using a cycle timer value from the bus connected to the first port. The offset is added to the cycle timer value on the bus connected to the second port and used to timestamp the data stream.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates broadly to networks of devices that share data. Specifically, the present invention relates to a node that has two ports and an internal interface between the ports, where data is received on one port and transmitted on the other port. More specifically, the present invention relates to a communication function between ports on a node that does not require a common time base to be distributed across the network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A service proxy is often used as a data bridge in applications that adhere to the IEEE 1394.1 Serial Bus Standard. A service proxy preserves legacy interoperability for devices such as audio/video (AV) devices that aren't bridge aware. A local bridge acting as a service proxy serves as an AV target for a legacy controller and then sends AV commands to another bridge acting as service proxy on a remote bus. The service proxy on the remote bus, posing as a local AV controller, in turn forwards the AV commands to the real AV target. After connecting the legacy controller and target in this fashion with service proxies, transmission of isochronous stream data may begin with isochronous data from the source bus being repeated across intervening buses to the final sink bus.

The repeating of isochronous data from one bus to another (through possible intervening buses) poses some challenges. Specifically, the time base for any given bus can be different from any other bus by as much as +/−100 parts per million (ppm). Such variations in time bases may cause overruns and underruns when data is passed between buses having different time bases. A method is required to synchronize the various isochronous elements such as a sink bus, source bus, or intermediate buses, so that the isochronous data path faithfully recreates the source data rate without overruns or underruns.

The IEEE1394.1 standard defines a solution to this data rate matching problem that forces synchronization of all buses to a common BASE_RATE. According to the IEEE1394.1 solution, a bridge issues commands on an attached bus to speed up or slow down the cycle master for a particular bus. Doing so in a recursive or distributed fashion allows all buses to be synchronized to a single clock reference contained in the 1394.1 net cycle master. Having established a single clock reference, isochronous packets captured on one bus, such as the source bus, can be faithfully repeated cycle by cycle on all intervening buses and on the final sink bus without risking overflow or underflow.

However, several shortcomings are evident in the IEEE 1394.1 solution. The IEEE1394.1 solution requires a cycle master on each bus to be capable of adjusting its time base on command. Existing cycle master devices do not have this capability. Consequently, bridge devices often must serve as the root on each local bus to provide the cycle adjustment capability. Forcing the bridge device to be root may not be optimal, however, for certain circumstances and performance considerations. For example, it is preferred to have a B device be root over a legacy device.

Another challenge is that network-wide propagation of the master time reference requires bridge devices to be capable of forwarding the time reference from one portal to another portal. While this may be a simple task if both portals are located in the same enclosure, silicon die, etc., it becomes more problematic in the case of a distributed bridge in which the portals are physically separated, such as by a wireless connection.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the IEEE1394.1 solution by providing a communication function between ports on a node that does not require a common time base to be distributed across the network.

In one aspect, the present invention provides a method of implementing a source packet bridge on a network, the method comprising receiving a data stream over a first port; recreating the data stream on an interface between the first port and a second port; the second port sampling the data stream on the interface and timestamping the data stream using the time base of the second port; packetizing the data stream; and sending the data stream over the second port to a device.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method of implementing a source packet bridge on a network, the method comprising receiving a data stream over a first port; extracting a time stamp from a received packet; comparing the timestamp to a cycletimer value on a bus attached to the first port to calculate an offset value; adding the calculated offset to the cycle timer value on the second port, timestamping the data stream with the calculated offset; repacketizing the data stream; and sending the data stream over the second port to a device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a node according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a detailed flow chart diagram illustrating acts performed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a detailed flow chart diagram illustrating acts performed in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Those of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the following description of the present invention is illustrative only. Other embodiments of the invention will readily suggest themselves to such skilled persons having the benefit of this disclosure.

Although the architecture described herein is described with reference to components for a single computer, the present invention has a broader scope. The architecture may include audio and video components, home appliances, positioning and robotic systems, and test and measurement systems, for example. The present invention may be applied to any arbitrarily assembled collection of nodes linked together as a network of devices. In addition, it is necessary to distinguish a node from a physical computer component. Each component to reside on a bus will have with it at least one node physical layer controller. A given component may be associated with multiple nodes. However, there will usually be a one-to-one correspondence between devices or components and nodes on a bus.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a block diagram of a node 10 is illustrated. In a preferred embodiment, the nodes are designed to be compatible with the IEEE1394.1 standard. Node 10 includes state machine logic 12. State machine logic 12 incorporates all the logic circuitry for carrying out the methodologies and algorithms to be described herein. The circuitry may comprise a programmable logical array (PLA) or be uniquely designed to carry out the functions described herein. Those of ordinary skill in the art, having the benefit of this disclosure, will be able to implement the present invention without undue experimentation.

Node 10 is coupled to local host 14. Local host 14 may be any device one wishes to attach to the bus, such as a disk drive, CPU, keyboard, television, stereo, household appliance, or any other component which needs to communicate with other components in the system.

Node 10 communicates with other nodes through communications links. A link is a connection between two ports. Typically, a cable segment is used for a link. However, a link may be implemented as any physical communication channel, including wireless RF or infrared. A port is the interface between a node and a link. A port has the ability to transmit and receive data. A port can also determine whether it is connected to another port through a link. As illustrated in FIG. 1, node 10 has three external ports 16, 18 and 20 with connecting links 22, 24 and 26, respectively. An internal interface may also be provided between two or more ports on node 10. As shown, interface 30 allows ports 16 and 18 to communicate with each other. As referred to herein, ports 16, 18 and internal interface 30 are referred to collectively as a source packet “bridge.”

An individual node may have more than one port, and each node is able to transmit and receive data on any one of its ports. A node is also able to receive and transmit signaling messages through all of its ports. In the discussion that follows, devices and local hosts will, for the most part, be omitted and all references to bus topology will refer to nodes and node connections through various ports.

The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the IEEE1394.1 solution by providing a communication function between ports on a node that does not require a common time base to be distributed across the network. The present invention bridges isochronous traffic from one bus to another without the cooperation of any other silicon and eliminates the need for a common time base.

Isochronous traffic of most interest in the consumer space is transported on in accordance with the IEEE 1394 standard using the IEEE 61883 transport protocol. In accordance with the IEEE 61883 transport protocol; every isochronous data stream has fixed-length source packets that arrive at a variable bit rate. The IEEE 61883 protocol specifies how each such source packet is divided into data blocks and encapsulated in a IEEE 1394.1-defined isochronous packet complete with a recreation timestamp, and then reassembled and retimed at a IEEE61883-compliant receiver, effectively making a IEEE 1394-compliant bus behave as a pipe having a fixed latency.

The IEEE 61883 protocol accommodates a difference between the application/source clock, such as a video clock, and the clock in a IEEE1394-compliant bus, which may have a +/−100 ppm variance. This accommodation is accomplished by a transmit rate specified by the IEEE 1394 standard, expressed in data blocks per isochronous interval, which is sufficiently higher than the nominal application rate.

The IEEE 61883 protocol also requires a data sink (receiver) to have a FIFO that holds source packets for a period of time until the playback time, encoded in the packet format defined by the IEEE 1394 standard, has arrived. Within some limits, data transfer is acceptable if an intermediate bridge in the system represents a variable latency in data block delivery between ports. The final receive FIFO will pace things and maintain the fixed latency delivery model of the IEEE 61883 protocol.

By limiting the scope of the problem to 61883 transports, recognizing that the IEEE61883 protocol allows a mismatch in clocks, and assuming the existence of a receive FIFO, the process of repeating isochronous packets one for one between ports on a bridge can be eliminated.

The present invention extracts data blocks received from an inbound 61883 stream and re-packetizes for 61883 delivery outbound on the bridge's port. The re-packetization is performed in the time domain of the second port according to the data rate specified for the stream.

The effect is that the inbound packing may not exactly match the outbound packing. As an example, if the receiving port has a time base faster than that of the transmitting port, then there will be more data block per isochronous packet on the transmitting portal on average than the receiving port. Effectively, the transmitting port is unable to keep up with the receiving port and begins to accumulate data blocks in its internal FIFO. Finally, when an empty or partially-packed isochronous packet is received from the receiving port, the transmitting port can compensate by sending a full or partially-full packet. Thus, fewer isochronous intervals on the transmitting port are empty or partially packed.

While latency for data blocks is no longer constant and a one-cycle jitter is added, the end-to-end application works fine since the receive FIFO compensates. The average bandwidth into and out of the bridge remains constant as there are faster packets with more empties instead of slower packets with less empties and, as a result, FIFO depths remain finite. Enough empty packets are sent at the application source so that slower buses can keep up. The +/−100 ppm clock variance isn't cumulative across each bridge since the time base of each bus is +/−100 ppm from an ideal value, not from a neighboring bus. The network-wide variance is bounded within +/−100 ppm allowance. Thus, the present invention supports a wide variety of intervening bridges/buses.

Directing attention to FIG. 2, an embodiment of the present invention closely adheres to the IEEE 61883 transport protocol and smoothes data by recreating the actual source packet stream internal to the bridge and the re-transmitting the packet stream as if the bridge were the source of the data. This is accomplished by node 10 acting as a receiver for a data stream received on port 16 (reference numeral 50). Receive rules according to the IEEE 61883 transport protocol are implemented on node 10 for port 16, and the encapsulated data stream is locally buffered (reference numeral 52) and played back across internal interface 30 according to the presentation timestamps. At reference numeral 54, the source packet stream is recreated on internal interface 30 using only the time base of port 16. At reference numeral 56, port 18 samples the data stream present at internal interface 30, and timestamps the data stream with the time base of port 18 as if internal interface 30 is actually the application real time interface connected to, for example, an MPEG codec. The sampled and timestamped stream is then packetized (reference numeral 58) using rules defined in the IEEE61883 transport protocol, which specify requirements such as minimum and maximum numbers of data blocks per isochronous period, etc. At reference numeral 60, the data stream is then sent out port 18 for recreation at a device such as a receiver or the next intermediate bridge.

FIG. 3 illustrates a sequence of acts performed in another embodiment of the present invention. Beginning at reference numeral 70, a data stream is received over port 16. Receive rules according to the IEEE 61883 transport protocol are implemented on node 10 for port 16. At reference numeral 72, the timestamp embedded in the beginning of a source packet received on port 16 is extracted from the received data stream. At reference numeral 74, the timestamp value is compared to the cycletimer value on the bus attached to port 16 and an offset value is calculated as follows. For each source packet arriving from bus 22 that is forwarded to bus 24, an offset is added to the existing presentation timestamp to account for the difference in absolute time between bus 22 and bus 24 as well as to account for the additional latency introduced by the store and forward source packet bridge. The offset can be calculated as:

TimeStamp for packet on bus 24=TimeStamp from packet received from bus 22+(CurrentTime on bus 24−CurrentTime on bus 22)+Klatency  (1)

The value for (CurrentTime on bus 24−CurrentTime on bus 22) is not a constant and should be dynamically evaluated each time the timestamp adjustment is to be performed.

The Klatency term is a constant which typically would be >=to the worst case delay (measured with respect to bus 24's time) from when a source packet arrives from bus 22 and it is repeated onto bus 24.

At reference numeral 76 the calculated offset is then used to restamp the source packet on port 18 by adding the offset to the cycle timer value on the bus attached to port 18. With the source packet time stamp suitably adjusted, outbound 61883 packetization is performed at reference numeral 78 based on the number of data blocks already received from port 16 and in consideration of the maximum number of data blocks which can be packed together. At reference numeral 80, the packetized data stream is sent over port 18 to a device such as another bridge in the network or an AV device that consumes the data stream. By skipping the step in which source packets are time released from port 16 to port 18 according to the precise source packet timestamps, the source data can become more bursty on the various bus segments relative to the first embodiment. But the maximum packing rules limit the burstiness, and the receive FIFOs are likely to be sufficiently to handle any greater variance in burst rate versus average rate introduced by the simplification. The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3 and described above makes no attempt to smooth the replay of the data.

In the embodiments of the present inventions illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 and described above, the resulting data transmitted over port 18 can be sent to another intermediate source packet bridge, or may be sent directly to an A/V device described above for consumption by the device.

While embodiments and applications of this invention have been shown and described, it would be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure that many more modifications than mentioned above are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. The invention, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims. 

1.-11. (canceled)
 12. A method of implementing a source packet bridge on a network of nodes, the source packet bridge having a node with a first port, the first port having a first time base, a second port, the second port having a second time base, and an internal interface between the first port and the second port, where the first port is connected to a first link and the second port is connected to a second link, the first link having a first clock domain, the second link having a second clock domain that has a time base different than that of the first clock domain; the method comprising: extracting a first set of data blocks received via the first port according to the first clock domain; storing the first set of data blocks within an internal FIFO (first in first out); transmitting a second set of data blocks over the second port according to the second clock domain, the second set of data blocks comprising one or more data blocks retrieved from the internal FIFO; and compensating for the difference between the first clock domain and the second clock domain by inserting one or more empty data blocks.
 13. The method of claim 12, where the first and second set of data blocks comprises isochronous data.
 14. The method of claim 12, where at least one or more of the first or second data blocks are further encapsulated in packets.
 15. The method of claim 14, where the first and second set of data blocks comprise packets.
 16. The method of claim 14, where each packet does not exceed a maximum number of data blocks per isochronous period.
 17. The method of claim 14, where each packet exceeds a minimum number of data blocks per isochronous period.
 18. The method of claim 12, where the average bandwidth into the first link and out of the second link is constant.
 19. A source packet bridge apparatus comprising: a first port, the first port having a first time base; a second port, the second port having a second time base; an internal interface between the first port and the second port, where the first port is connected to a first link and the second port is connected to a second link, the first link having a first clock domain, the second link having a second clock domain that has a time base different than that of the first clock domain; a processor; a computer readable apparatus having a storage medium with at least one computer program stored thereon, the at least one computer program configured to, when executed on the processor, causes the processor to: extract a first set of data blocks received via the first port according to the first clock domain; store the first set of data blocks within an internal FIFO (first in first out); transmit a second set of data blocks over the second port according to the second clock domain, the second set of data blocks comprising one or more data blocks retrieved from the internal FIFO; and compensate for the difference between the first clock domain and the second clock domain by inserting one or more empty data blocks.
 20. The source packet bridge apparatus of claim 19, where the first and second set of data blocks comprise isochronous data.
 21. The source packet bridge apparatus of claim 19, where the first and second links comprises a high speed serial bus.
 22. The source packet bridge apparatus of claim 21, where the extraction is configured to unpack the first set of data blocks from a first packet.
 23. The source packet bridge apparatus of claim 22, where the transmission is configured to pack the second set of data blocks into a second packet.
 24. The source packet bridge apparatus of claim 23, where at least one of extraction and transmission is configured to keep the average bandwidth out of the source packet bridge constant.
 25. The source packet bridge apparatus of claim 23, where the first set of data blocks are stored according to an associated time stamp.
 26. A source packet bridge apparatus comprising: logic configured to extract a first set of data blocks received via a first port according to a first clock domain; logic configured to store the first set of data blocks within an internal FIFO (first in first out); logic configured to transmit a second set of data blocks over a second port according to a second clock domain, the second set of data blocks comprising one or more data blocks retrieved from the internal FIFO; and logic configured to compensate for the difference between the first clock domain and the second clock domain by inserting one or more empty data blocks.
 27. The source packet bridge apparatus of claim 26, where the first and second links comprises a high speed serial bus.
 28. The source packet bridge apparatus of claim 26, where the logic configured to extract is further configured to unpack the first set of data blocks from a first packet.
 29. The source packet bridge apparatus of claim 26, where the logic configured to transmit is further configured to pack the second set of data blocks into a second packet.
 30. The source packet bridge apparatus of claim 29, where the first and second set of data blocks comprises isochronous data. 